“The opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is enough.”

 ~Dr. Wess Stafford

“Do not look the other way; do not hesitate. Recognise that the world is hungry for action, not words. Act with courage and vision”

~Nelson Mandela

The War on Poverty - By someone who’s been in it long enough to understand the challenge, and still believes anyway.

I found out yesterday that I will be receiving the Marvin J. Huston General’s Award next week at the Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development annual meeting.  It is an award bestowed for “Outstanding Contributions and Commitment to the People of Appalachian Ohio in the War on Poverty” This is a humbling moment in my life.  I follow in the footsteps of giants in the movement and join a select group that have received the award.  I will be the 24th awardee.  A handful of past awardees have passed on (including my father), and most of the rest are enjoying their retirement in a variety of sunny (and not-so-sunny) locales around the country.  There are only three of us who are still engaged, on a daily basis, in the War of Poverty, and I have heard rumors that at least one of them is contemplating hanging up their spurs pretty soon. This particular honor is an individual award, but I assure you, it is a culmination of the efforts of a thousand hands.  I would not be receiving it without the tireless work of all of you who have given every day to make people’s lives just a little bit better. Each and every one of you holds a piece of this achievement. As this is a bit of a “lifetime achievement award”, I have spent some time contemplating my place in the movement, and what the future might hold. This work is hard.  It wears on you, and some days the only thing that brings you back is the knowledge that we are the only thing standing between a client and abject hopelessness. 

There will be a day that I will step aside for the next leader to take up the mantle. 

But. Not. Yet. 

I still have fight left in me. Some people fight dragons. Others do battle with TPS reports (shout out to Office Space). I, however, have chosen to spend my lifetime battling poverty. Not usually my own, though there were days… No, this is poverty with a capital P - Poverty—the big, lumbering, institutional kind that doesn’t live under bridges but in policy memos, neglected neighborhoods, decommissioned nuclear facilities, contaminated, forgotten communities, and polite political debates where it’s never quite invited to speak for itself.

They call it “The War on Poverty.” A grand name, full of drumbeats and marches, and rallying cries. But those of you who have been in the trenches of community action, you know it’s less like a war and more like trying to plug holes in a sinking ship... with paper towels.

And yet—we try. We build food banks, senior centers, transportation programs, health care facilities, and systems of support cobbled together with duct tape, compassion, and spreadsheets last updated in 2003.

And it works. Not always. Not everywhere. But often enough to matter. Often enough to believe it is worth doing.

The Enemy Evolves

You see, poverty is clever. It's a shape-shifter. One decade, it’s about hunger. The next, it’s housing. Then healthcare. Then the sudden realization that you can work 40 hours a week and still not afford your groceries.

But lately, the climate has changed.

Not the weather—though, honestly, that too. I mean the political climate. The sort where facts are optional, compassion is suspicious, and poverty is seen not as a systemic failure, but a personal one. Where helping others is branded as weakness, and cruelty wears the well-ironed suit of “fiscal responsibility.”

These days, some folks seem to think if you just ignore poverty long enough, it’ll get bored and go away - It won’t. It’s very patient.

Still, We Persist

And yet. We’re still here.

Those of us who believe poverty is not a character flaw. Who believe helping people doesn’t make you soft—it makes you human. Who believe that empathy is not some rare mineral to be mined sparingly, but a renewable resource that grows every time it’s shared.

Yes, the system is imperfect. Yes, it sometimes feels like trying to push a wheelbarrow full of jelly uphill, barefoot, in the rain, while someone from the Heritage Foundation lectures you about bootstraps.

But progress is not always a banner headline. Sometimes it’s a kid who gets to eat breakfast. Sometimes it’s a family that stays housed. Sometimes it’s just making sure someone, somewhere, feels seen.

A Message for the Moment

So here’s what I’ve learned after a lifetime in this fight:

Hope is not a strategy, but it is a starting point. Kindness is not naive—it’s revolutionary. And poverty is not inevitable. It’s engineered. Which means it can be un-engineered. Dismantled. Rewritten.

But only if we keep showing up.

Even now, when the political weather is stormy and the forecast says “gale-force nonsense” (or another word that starts with a masculine bovine that I probably shouldn’t use here), we keep going. Because there is no other choice. Because real community doesn’t end at the ballot box or the budget meeting. It lives in the small acts, the unseen work, the people who keep caring even when it’s hard.

And maybe, just maybe, the War on Poverty isn’t something you win in a single battle. Maybe it's something you outlast.

After all, poverty may be persistent, but so are we.

Until next time…